The Sounds of The Last of the Delacroixs...

This book has been a favorite amongst my fans.  Most claim this is the best one yet.  And yet because of the content I had to be in a very special mindset for this book. 

In June of 2013, my cousin Andrea (always, ALWAYS my biggest supporter) and I flew down to New Orleans for about a week.  We walked around the French Quarter, meandered aimlessly amidst the crypts in the St. Louis Cemetery 1, wandered into Louis Armstrong Park and into Treme (the birthplace of jazz), and spoke with a wonderfully nice older gentleman about the area. 

  During the nights we had a few drinks on Bourbon Street, ate lots of fresh seafood and drank plenty of Hurricanes.  During the days we explored.  

I had been to NOLA only one time before and I didn't get to see much, let alone really spend some quality time there to get a feel for the place.  I had plenty of time to do that this trip, though.  And I fell in love with New Orleans.  

The trip gave me a lot of inspiration for my book, The Last of the Delacroixs.  But after I got back home and the magic of the French Quarter eventually withered away, I turned to music, yet again, for my inspiration.  

The artists that really got me in a Creole and voodoo kind of mood were Johnny Farmer's "Death Letter."  It's jazzy, moody and dark and I could just close my eyes and really see 18th century New Orleans.  

And when I was in the home stretch, writing the climax of my depressing little tome, Bathsheba's escape from Francois, I kept replaying the song "If I Had a Heart" by Fever Ray.

My brother, Derek, was actually the first person to "introduce" me to Fever Ray.  He heard it and thought it would be something that I would like; he was so right.  I don't think I would have been able to capture that desperate struggle to escape from the plantation had it not been for this song.   

It really is strange the music that speaks to you during a particular story.  And it always changes; I can't listen to the same song, the same music, for each novel that I write.  Simply because each song inspires a specific type of tone applicable to only the struggles and feelings rampant in any piece of writing.  

I'm writing a novel now about a vengeful spirit called The Dybbuk and will be following up with the music that inspired this tome as well.  

Typically the music takes me by surprise.  Imogen Heap, Loreena, Florence, Fever Ray, David Gray...  I happen upon a specific song or few songs that just grab my attention and I can't let them go.

Not until the characters have told their story...

  
~ Angela Darling

© 2015 Amontillado Publishing.  All Rights Reserved.

The Sounds of Aeterno...

 

I put a lot of love into Aeterno.  A lot. Of. Love.

It was the final chapter in a tormented family's epic story.  I wanted to make it as raw and as real as I possibly could.  

I spent an obscene amount of time researching the American Revolution.  The history of Concord, Lexington, Boston.  The side stories that were not in your average textbooks.  And the little "gray area" of history; hundreds of years after the "shot heard 'round the world" and still no clear answer of who fired it.

I have my own personal theories.  You put a bunch of inexperienced farmers in a field with loaded firearms and a blunder is bound to happen.  

That's what I believe did happen.  An accident.  And the ensuing chaos broke through the thick tensions that had begun to run high in New England since the first taxation was called to order.  The ball had begun to roll, and there was no stopping it.  

America was at war.

  But I wanted to take advantage of the "not knowing."  Use that moment in time as the catalyst to bring the Thornes to the brink of destruction.  

I spent the better part of my hours while writing Aeterno locked in the 18th century.  As such, I really needed a specific musical mood set.  There was one song that really stood out that I listened to over and over.  

Loreena McKennitt's "Skellig."  It tells the story of an old man lying on his death bed, telling the story of his life.  A long life lived through much history, salty voyages overseas, and haunting experiences.  Something about the lyrics really spoke to me, brought me back in time.

Another song of Loreena's "The Highwayman."  It was based off of a poem by Alfred Noyes and Loreena's delivery is exquisite...  It is a haunting tale of a rebellious thief and his true love, and the tragedy that befalls them.  

Loreena's album Book of Secrets is just chock full of inspiration; I highly, highly recommend checking out those to masterpieces.  Aeterno was definitely my favorite entry in the Thorne Family Saga; I hope that you enjoyed it too...

~ Angela Darling

© 2015 Amontillado Publishing.  All Rights Reserved.